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King Tiger
|image=Image: .png |caption= |faction=Germany |class= Advanced Heavy Tank |cost= $50 |upgrade= $50 |precursor= Tiger |era= 1945+ |armor= 75mm |resist= 400 |speed= 28 }} If the Tiger was a legend, the Tiger II (or B), aka "Kӧnigstiger" ("King Tiger"), was a tank crew's dream. It had even better armor than the original, a high velocity 88mm gun able to blow away any enemy tank at up to 3000m, and an MG-42 in its hull. But the King Tiger was also an industrial nightmare that is very expensive and slow to produce; as a result it can only be deployed in limited numbers. History Development of a heavy tank design had been initiated in 1937; the initial design contract was awarded to Henschel. Another contract followed in 1939, and was given to Porsche. Both prototype series used the same turret design from Krupp; the main differences were in the hull, transmission, suspension and automotive features. The Henschel version used a conventional hull design with sloped armor resembling the layout of the Panther tank. It had a rear mounted engine and used nine steel-tired overlapping road wheels with internal springing per side, mounted on transverse torsion bars, in a similar manner to the original Tiger. To simplify maintenance, however, the wheels were overlapping rather than interleaved as in the Tiger I. The Porsche hull designs included a rear-mounted turret and a mid-mounted engine. The suspension was the same as on the Jagdpanzer Elefant. This had six road wheels per side mounted in paired bogies sprung with short longitudinal torsion bars that were integral to the wheel pair; this saved internal space and facilitated repairs. One Porsche version had a gasoline-electric hybrid power system; two separate drive trains in series, one per side of the tank, each consisting of a hybrid drive train; gasoline engine – electric generator – electric motor – drive sprocket. This method of propulsion had been attempted before on the Tiger (P) (later Elefant prototypes) and in some U.S. designs, but had never been put into production. The Porsche suspension were later used on a few of the later Jagdtiger tank hunters. Another proposal was to use hydraulic drives. Dr. Porsche's unorthodox designs gathered little favor. The Tiger II was developed late in the war and made in relatively small numbers - 1,500 Tiger IIs were ordered, but the production was severely disrupted by Allied bombing.. Among others, five raids between 22 September and 7 October 1944 destroyed 95 percent of the floor area of the Henschel plant. It is estimated that this caused the loss in production of some 657 Tiger IIs. Only 492 units were produced: 1 in 1943, 379 in 1944, and 112 in 1945. Full production ran from mid-1944 to the end of the war. Summary Notes *A single King Tiger can tip the tide of battle in your favor. *The King Tiger embodies Germany's arsenal -- expensive but effective. *Although it can handle any threat on land, the King Tiger can be decimated by enemy Fighter-Bombers. Use close anti-air support to counter this. *King Tigers are some of the best tanks in game as they have the very powerful 88mm. *Two King Tigers can destroy a base if they can get 'the drop' on them. Weapons See Also *Wikipedia: Tiger II Category:Germany Category:Units Category:Armor